New Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel did not call plays when he was with the 49ers as the team’s offensive coordinator.
But he will be taking on that responsibility with Miami.
In his introductory press conference on Thursday, McDaniel said he plans on calling the Dolphins’ offense. But he also noted that the job isn’t done in a vacuum.
“One thing that I’ve noticed in my journey is that successful play-callers don’t isolate themselves — they utilize the people around them,” McDaniel said. “That’s what a head coach should do. I’m not up here doing anything by myself, or I won’t be after this press conference ends. I’m not going to be going into a hole and hanging out by myself and thinking about stuff. You’re working with people. So the higher your leadership, with regard to a head coach, the more you have to lead. As an offensive coordinator, you call plays. But if you’re a head coach and calling plays, you better be reliant and feel very good about the people on your offensive staff.”
McDaniel added that he’s going through a “meticulous process” to find the right people on his offensive staff because there’s so much that goes on during the season.
“There’s stressors and you have to worry about focusing the direction of the team,” McDaniel said. “But that’s why you spend this time in the offseason, finding the people you can rely on, that you can trust and work with so that they can help you game plan, help you solve problems, we can get the best plan together. And when the players own the plan, you’re just calling plays, but they make them come to life.”
The Dolphins finished the 2021 season 22nd in points and 25th in yards, so McDaniel has plenty of work to do to improve the unit.